Handpad for touchscreen of an electric device

ABSTRACT

A hand pad for use with a touch screen of an electronic device comprising a pad body and a finger holder mounted on a surface of the pad body, such that the pad body could follow a pen holding hand to move on the touch screen through the finger holder. The surface of the hand pad in contact with the touch screen is configured to enable a smooth motion of the hand pad over the touch screen.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a hand pad, and more particularly to ahand pad for use with a touch screen of an electronic device,particularly a tablet computer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the emergence of iPad, the industry of tablet computer hasdeveloped rapidly in recent years, and there are numerous products ofthe type available on the marketplace, from which one can know theirpopularity and ever growing demands therefor.

A tablet computer is a new type of notebook computer into which data canbe entered via a stylus pen. The tablet computer is easy to carry, andits touch screen enables a user to write or manipulate directly on thescreen with the stylus pen or a digital pen, and does not require atraditional physical keyboard or mouse. Its on-screen writing functionhas greatly facilitated the user to use the tablet computer as anotebook by which the user could take notes, write an article, or draw apicture at any time.

However, the user would always encounter a problem of writing ormanipulation with the tablet computer or other types of electronicdevices having a touch screen. The user might find it hard to writeuninterruptedly on the screen due to the habit of putting the hand overthe screen during writing or data manipulating operations, because thehabit might cause drawn lines or triggering of a key button when theuser's palm touches the screen inadvertently, which might result in amisoperation. This would interrupt frequently the writing ormanipulating operations and cause inconveniences.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides ahand pad adapted for and facilitating writing or manipulating operationson a touch screen of an electronic device.

The hand pad according to the present invention comprises a pad body anda finger holder mounted on a surface of the pad body, such that the padbody could follow a pen holding hand to move on the touch screen throughthe finger holder. The pad body has a shape and a dimension configuredto substantially correspond to a shape and a dimension of a profileformed by a little finger and a lateral side of a palm of the penholding hand.

The finger holder might be fixedly connected with the pad body by aconnecting member, or fixed directly to the pad body, or the fingerholder and the pad body might be integrally formed, for example, to havegenerally a finger configuration, namely the profile of a partial glovedefined by the little finger and the lateral side of the palm.

The pad body might be made up of at least one layer of material,preferably two or three layers of material. The pad body might have anoverall height of at least 2 mm.

A bottom layer of material of the pad body might be selected from thegroup consisting of nylon, cotton, microfiber, polyester fiber,non-woven fabric, and any other materials enabling a smooth movement onthe touch screen. A surface layer of material of the pad body might beselected from the group consisting of nylon, cotton, microfiber,polyester fiber, leather, PU, PVC, and any other materials withcomfortable feeling characteristics.

The multiple layers of material might be joined together in a stitchingmanner or an adhesive manner to form the pad body.

It is important that a surface of the hand pad in contact with the touchscreen shall be configured to enable its smooth movement on the touchscreen.

The finger holder might be of different configurations, for example,annular, cylindrical, strip, finger configuration, or other suitableconfigurations.

The finger holder might be mounted on the pad body in a stitchingmanner, an adhesive manner, a fastening manner, or other means commonlyemployed in the art.

The hand pad of the present invention prevents the user from causingmisoperation for example creating drawn lines or touching a key buttonon the screen inadvertently during writing or data manipulatingoperations on the touch screen of the electronic device, such as atablet computer, so as to eliminate the inadvertent writing andmanipulating interruptions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a hand pad in accordance with a firstembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the hand pad as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a structural schematic view of the finger holder of the handpad as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the finger holder as shown in FIG. 3 in afolded position.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the finger holder as shown in FIG. 3which is mounted on the pad body.

FIG. 6 is a structural schematic view of the pad body of the hand pad asshown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a variant of the hand pad as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a hand pad in accordance with a secondembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a structural schematic view of the finger holder of the handpad as shown in FIG. 8.

FIGS. 10 (1) and (2) are respectively a perspective view and a plan viewof a hand pad in accordance with a third embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a hand pad in accordance with a fourthembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a hand pad in accordance with a fifthembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A hand pad according to the present invention comprises a pad body and afinger holder, wherein the pad body is designed in such a manner that,when the user holds a pen (e.g., a stylus pen or a digital pen) and usesthe hand pad to perform writing or manipulating operations on the touchscreen, the planar shape and dimension of the pad body placed on thetouch screen would substantially correspond to a shape and a dimensionof a profile formed by a little finger and a lateral side of a palm,such that the pad body will not impede the manipulation on the touchscreen by the user's hand. The finger holder is arranged on the pad bodyto enable the pad body to follow the movements of the pen holding handon the touch screen.

In the following various embodiments of the present invention, the padbody is described to have the type mentioned above or a variant of thetype. In a preferred exemplary embodiment as shown in FIG. 1, the padbody 10 is in the form of a flat plate and comprises a front portion 11and a rear portion 12 whose width W2 is smaller than a width W1 of thefront portion 11. The left side of the front portion 11 outwardlyprotrudes from the pad body and the outer edge of the protruding sidejoins the left outer edge of the rear portion 12 through a transitionsection 13, forming a single side tapered. The tapered side is shaped tosubstantially correspond to the shape of the profile formed by thelateral side of the palm and the little finger of the pen holding hand.

While the foregoing configuration of the hand pad is suitable for aright-handed user, the hand pad might also be constructed to have aconfiguration mirror-symmetric to the foregoing one in order to caterfor a left-handed user. Nevertheless, the hand pad of the presentinvention is not limited to these configurations, and any otherconfiguration that does not impede the manipulating operations by thehand on the touch screen is possible.

FIGS. 1 to 6 illustrate a hand pad according to an embodiment of thepresent invention, which comprises a plate-shaped pad body 10 and afinger holder 20 arranged on the pad body 10, wherein the finger holder20 is arranged on the upper surface of the front portion 11 of the padbody 10. The pad body 10 is composed of three layers of material 10 ₁,10 ₂, 10 ₃; the finger holder 20 comprises an annular portion 22 and aholding portion 24, both of which are formed integrally. The annularportion 22 allows for insertion of a finger and is arranged close to theleading edge of the front portion 11 of the pad body 10, and the annularportion 22 has two openings respectively orientated to the left andright sides of the pad body. The holding portion 24, which is used toassist the finger inserted into the annular portion to take control ofthe movement of the hand pad on the touch screen, is located behind theannular portion 22 and orientated to the rear portion 12 of the pad body11.

In this embodiment, the structure of the finger holder 20 is shown inFIG. 3. As illustrated, the annular portion 22 has a rear end connectedwith the holding portion 24, and a front end having a T-shaped fixingportion 23. The holding portion 24 comprises two symmetrical halves. Thehalves form as one piece at their front sections and are cut out attheir rear sections along a symmetry axis A.

Referring to FIG. 4, to mount the finger holder 20 on the pad body 11,the fixing portion at the front end of the finger holder 20 is insertedbetween any two of the layers of material of the pad body from theleading edge of the pad body 10, and fixed on the pad body by stitchingor adhesive or other methods well known in the art. The holding portion24 is folded upwardly along its symmetry axis A, and then flipped overby 90 degrees. Thereafter, the rear sections with the cutouts of theholding portion 24 are flipped outwardly by 90 degrees along a foldingline I, and inserted into a slit 15 preformed on the top layer 10 ₁ ofthe pad body 10. As shown in FIG. 6, the holding portion 24 is thenfixed on the pad body in a stitching manner, an adhesive manner, afastening manner, or other means commonly employed in the art. Theannular portion 22 of the finger holder upon the mounting issubstantially sized to match with the finger to be inserted (e.g., thelittle finger).

FIG. 7 illustrates a variant of the foregoing hand pad, wherein thefinger holder and the hand pad are formed integrally. This embodiment isstructurally similar with the above embodiment but differs in that thefinger holder is fabricated using the same plate material of the padbody, eliminating the need of fixing the front end of the finger holderbecause the front end is formed integrally with the pad body, andrequiring to fix the holding portion of the finger holder in the sameway only. In this embodiment, the pad body is preferably made of asingle layer of material (e.g., leather), but also may be made ofmultiple layers of material, and in this case, the finger holder couldbe fabricated using one layer of material (e.g., the surface layer).

FIG. 8 illustrates a hand pad in accordance with a second embodiment ofthe present invention, wherein the pad body 10 is made up of two orthree layers of material. In this embodiment, the finger holder 20 ₂consists of only an annular or cylindrical portion with its two endsdirectly fixed on the pad body 10 in a stitching manner, an adhesivemanner, or the like.

Alternatively, the finger holder 20 ₂ might be fabricated using the samematerial of the top layer of material of the pad body. As shown in FIG.9, the rear end of the finger holder is formed integrally with the padbody, and the front end of the finger holder is fixed on the pad body 10in a stitching manner, an adhesive manner, or the like. Alternatively,the front end of the finger holder is a free end detachably fixed on thepad body, for example using a Velcro. This allows the user to adjust thedimension of the finger holder to suit the size of the user's finger.

FIGS. 10 (1) and (2) are respectively a perspective schematic view and aplan schematic view of a hand pad in accordance with a third embodimentof the present invention, wherein the pad body 10 is made up of two orthree layers of material. In this embodiment, the finger holder 20 ₃consists of only a holding sheet, which is structurally same as theholding portion of the finger holder shown in FIG. 1. In operation, thelittle finger bends to grip the holding sheet, which enables to controlthe movement of the hand pad. As a variant, the finger holder mightconsist of a holding pillar only (not shown).

FIG. 11 illustrates a hand pad according to a fourth embodiment of thepresent invention, which comprises a pad body 10 and a finger holder 20₄. In this embodiment, the pad body 10 is identical or similar instructure to the pad body of the foregoing embodiments, but differs inthat the finger holder 20 ₄ is of strip configuration with one endhaving a holding sheet fixed on the pad body 10 by stitching, adhesive,or the like, and the other end which is a free end where a connectingmember, such as a becket, is provided for fastening a writing pen. Inoperation, the finger holder of strip configuration is grasped by use ofthe little finger of the pen holding hand or by the combined use of thelittle finger and the ring finger of the pen holding hand, which enablesto drive the hand pad to move on the touch screen.

FIG. 12 illustrates a hand pad according to a fifth embodiment of thepresent invention, which comprises a pad body 10′ and a finger holder 20₅. In this embodiment, the hand pad resembles in its overallconfiguration a glove with the little finger and a lateral side of thepalm remaining while other parts of the glove cut away. In this case,the pad body and the finger holder are preferably formed integrally.Nevertheless, they might be provided separately and then joinedtogether, depending on the nature of the material.

The overall thickness of the hand pad in accordance with the presentinvention is preferably greater than or equal to 2 mm. The pad bodymight be made up of a single layer of material, such as a leather sheetwith a processed bottom surface, or multiple layers of material. It isimportant to ensure that the bottom surface of the hand pad in contactwith the touch screen can move smoothly on the touch screen, withoutcausing any misoperation including creating drawn lines or touching anunwanted key button on the touch screen. For this purpose, the bottomlayer of material of the pad body in contact with the touch screen mightbe selected from the group consisting of nylon, cotton, microfiber,polyester fiber, non-woven fabric, and any other materials enabling asmooth movement on the touch screen.

The surface layer of material of the pad body might be selected from thegroup consisting of nylon, cotton, microfiber, polyester fiber, leather,PU, PVC, and any other materials with comfortable feelingcharacteristics.

In the case of the use of the multiple layers of material, the multiplelayers of material might be joined together, for example, in a stitchingmanner, an adhesive manner, or the like, to form the pad body.

The finger holder might be of various configurations, including but notlimited to annular, cylindrical, sheet, pillar, strip, fingerconfiguration, or any other suitable configurations that can cooperatewith the pen holding hand to drive the movement of the hand pad on thetouch screen.

The finger holder might be directly fixed on or connected to the padbody in a manner well known in the art, such as stitching, adhesive,fastening, or the like. For the specific designs, the finger holdermight also be fixed on or connected to the pad body via a connectingmember.

In order to cater for the finger sizes of different users, the fingerholder of the present invention, especially the portions designed tocooperate with the finger (e.g. the annular portion), might be made ofan elastic material suitable for use in the embodiment as shown in FIGS.8 and 10, for example.

While several embodiments of the present invention have been describedhereinbefore, a person skilled in the art should understand that theabove description is given for illustrative purpose and should not beconsidered to limit the scope of the present invention. Numerousmodifications, alterations or substitutions may be obtainable in view ofthe details of the foregoing embodiments without departing from thescope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A hand pad for use with a touch screen of anelectronic device, characterized in that it comprises a pad body and afinger holder, wherein the pad body has a shape and a dimensionconfigured to substantially correspond to a shape and a dimension of aprofile formed by a little finger and a lateral side of a palm of a penholding hand, and the finger holder is mounted on a surface of the padbody, such that the pad body follows the pen holding hand to move on thetouch screen through the finger holder.
 2. A hand pad as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the finger holder is fixedly connected with the padbody by a connecting member.
 3. A hand pad as claimed in claim 1,wherein the finger holder is directly fixed to the pad body.
 4. A handpad as claimed in claim 1, wherein the finger holder is formedintegrally with the pad body.
 5. A hand pad as claimed in claim 1,wherein the pad body is made up of at least one layer of material.
 6. Ahand pad as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pad body is made up of abottom layer of material and a surface layer of material.
 7. A hand padas claimed in claim 1, wherein the pad body is made up of a bottom layerof material, an intermediate layer of material, and a surface layer ofmaterial.
 8. A hand pad as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pad body hasan overall height of at least 2 mm.
 9. A hand pad as claimed in claim 6,wherein the bottom layer of material of the pad body is selected fromthe group consisting of nylon, cotton, microfiber, polyester fiber, andnon-woven fabric.
 10. A hand pad as claimed in claim 6, wherein thesurface layer of material of the pad body is selected from the groupconsisting of nylon, cotton, microfiber, polyester fiber, leather, PU,and PVC.
 11. A hand pad as claimed in claim 6, wherein the layers ofmaterial are joined together in a stitching manner or an adhesivemanner.
 12. A hand pad as claimed in claim 1, wherein a surface of thehand pad in contact with the touch screen is configured to enable itssmooth movement on the touch screen.
 13. A hand pad as claimed in claim1, wherein the finger holder is of annular or cylindrical configuration.14. A hand pad as claimed in claim 1, wherein the finger holder is ofstrip configuration.
 15. A hand pad as claimed in claim 1, wherein thefinger holder is of sheet or pillar configuration.
 16. A hand pad asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the finger holder is of fingerconfiguration.
 17. A hand pad as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fingerholder is fixed on the pad body in a stitching manner, an adhesivemanner, or a fastening manner.
 18. A hand pad as claimed in claim 7,wherein the bottom layer of material of the pad body is selected fromthe group consisting of nylon, cotton, microfiber, polyester fiber, andnon-woven fabric.
 19. A hand pad as claimed in claim 7, wherein thesurface layer of material of the pad body is selected from the groupconsisting of nylon, cotton, microfiber, polyester fiber, leather, PU,and PVC.
 20. A hand pad as claimed in claim 7, wherein the layers ofmaterial are joined together in a stitching manner or an adhesivemanner.